Real Facts About Tinnitus And Its Causes

 Tinnitus is abnormal noise perceived in one or both ears or in the head. Tinnitus (pronounced either “TIN-uh-tus” or “tin-NY-tus”) may be intermittent, or it might appear as a constant or continuous sound. It can be experienced as a ringing, hissing, whistling, buzzing, or clicking
sound and can vary in pitch from a low roar to a high squeal. Tinnitus is very common. Most studies indicate the prevalence in adults as falling within the range of 10% to 15%, with a greater prevalence at higher ages, through the sixth or seventh decade of life. Gender distinctions are not consistently reported across studies, but tinnitus prevalence is significantly higher in pregnant than non-pregnant women. The most common form of tinnitus is
subjective tinnitus, which is noise that other people cannot hear. Objective tinnitus can be heard by an examiner positioned close to the ear. This is a rare form of tinnitus, occurring in less than 1% of cases. Chronic tinnitus can be annoying, intrusive, and in some cases devastating to a person’s life. Up to 25% of those with chronic tinnitus find it severe enough to seek treatment.  It can interfere with a person’s ability to hear, work, and perform daily activities. One study showed that 33% of persons being treated for tinnitus reported that it
disrupted their sleep, with a greater degree of disruption directly related to the perceived loudness or severity of the tinnitus.
Causes and related factors
Most tinnitus is associated with damage to the auditory (hearing) system, although it can also be associated with other events or factors: jaw, head, or neck injury; exposure to certain drugs;
nerve damage; or vascular (blood-flow) problems. With severe tinnitus in adults, coexisting factors may include hearing loss, dizziness, head injury, sinus and middle-ear infections, or mastoiditis (infection of the spaces within the mastoid bone). Significant factors associated with mild tinnitus may include meningitis (inflammation of the membranous covering of the brain and spinal cord), dizziness, migraine, hearing loss, or age. Forty percent of tinnitus patients have decreased sound tolerance, identified as the sum of hyperacusis (perception of
over-amplification of environmental sounds) and misophonia/ phonophobia (dislike/fear of environmental sounds). While most cases of tinnitus are associated with some form of hearing
impairment, up to 18% of cases do not involve reports of abnormal hearing.